Monday, September 13, 2010

For the Love of Labels

Hello, my name is Emily and I am a Labeler.

As I've mentioned in past posts, I love an organized closet. But let’s get real here: just because I love an organized closet does not mean I always have an organized closet. It’s tough. Sometimes, that pair of pants just wants to lay on the closet floor, you know?

I’m certainly not perfect. I like things clean, sure, but general picked-up-tidiness on a consistent basis is something I’ve really been trying to work on over the past year. I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. And two primary principles have been key to that success:

If something has a “place” that is logically located and easily accessible, I am eleventybillion times more likely to put it back where it belongs

Labels make re-homing items way, way easier. [And for the record, labels also make it hard for a husband to argue "I didn't know that's where you wanted [this]". I'm just saying.]

I am not joking. It works.

They work in the laundry room, to keep the dog stuff separate from the laundry stuff and keep these open shelves from becoming an unholy mess.

This basket became a lifesaver this summer, when we were spending many days chasing The fair-skinned Redhead around outdoors, and 3 straight weeks of rain meant a bumper crop of mosquitoes and other bugs.

This is in the cabinet closest to the back door, and it holds all our sunscreens, bug sprays, and wet wipes. I also stack two citronella candles right behind it for easy access. This is the first summer since we’ve been married that I didn’t have to answer to Mr. V. shouting “Hey, where’s the sunscreen again?” every time he went out to mow the lawn.

And then there’s upstairs. The sheer volume of stuff in this closet practically requires a Masters Degree in organization.

This is the linen closet. It’s in our Master Bedroom (I have no idea why), located between our closet and the Master Bath. While there is a case to be made for having additional storage in the MBR, this means that everything that would normally default to a hall closet now sits squarely… HERE.

So, between the medicines and band-aids and lotions and toothbrushes and sheets and towels and Lord-knows-what-else I felt the need to cram in there, it was getting messy. And then I would organize it. And it would get messy again. So I was cleaning it out All.The.Time. Since I added the labels, there isn’t anymore tossing of random aspirin or hand lotion onto a shelf, or stuffing towels in however they might fit. It’s been this way for 4 months :::knock on wood::: and counting.